Zimbabwe is Developing More Satellites, Including ZIMSAT-3
Through the Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA), the country plans to develop additional satellites, including its third Earth Observational satellite, ZIMSAT-3, to boost its space capabilities. ZINGA’s director general, Mr Painos Gweme, highlighted that the agency is keen to leverage space technology for national development. He further stated that work is ongoing for the additional satellites that are currently in various production stages.
The country’s specific and practical needs have driven the increase in the number of its planned satellites. Presently, Zimbabwe does not have real-time earth observation capabilities that provide updated satellite imagery every five to six hours. Such capabilities are essential to applications such as monitoring environmental changes, analysing crop yields and monitoring soil erosion. This has been evidenced by the prioritisation of agricultural support through ZIMSAT-2, the country’s second satellite launched into orbit in November 2024.
To support the development of these future satellites, ZINGSA indicated that the Mazowe Ground Station has been upgraded to accommodate the L, S and X bands, including Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) and Very High Frequency (VHF) transmissions. This makes the ground station a commercially viable project with potential for ground-station-as-a-service capabilities, as it continues to assist the country in transmission of its available in-orbit satellites.
ZIMSAT-2 Status Update
Mr Painos Gweme, confirmed that ZIMSAT-2 is transmitting both mission data(uplink) and telemetry data(downlink). Made possible by the Mazowe ground station, the transmitted data helps the country assess the satellite’s status and the utilisation of its earth observation capabilities for crop health mapping and climate change detection. He added that complementing the country’s first satellite (ZIMSAT-1), ZIMSAT-2 will help validate ZIMSAT-1’s data while increasing the country’s coverage area per given time.
This article was originally published as an interview on the Sunday Mail, Zimbabwe website, on February 22, 2025. Read the original article here.